


dark in my imagination

by doctorkaitlyn



Series: tumblr fics & ficlets. [48]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Breaking and Entering, F/F, Fluff, Ice Cream, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Pre-Canon, Sneaking Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-06 14:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5419892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorkaitlyn/pseuds/doctorkaitlyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fact that her parents won’t even allow Jennifer in the house makes Kali so angry that she can’t stop her claws from digging into her palms. </p>
<p>(They say it’s because Kali’s too young to have a girlfriend, but she knows better.  She can smell the fear coming off them whenever Kali says Jennifer’s name, fear that Kali’s loyalty will shift from their emissary to Jennifer.</p>
<p>Kali wonders what they’d smell like if they knew about her plans to rip out their throats after graduation.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	dark in my imagination

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for the 2015 edition of Teen Wolf Femslash Secret Santa! based on the prompt "Who crawls through someone’s window at 4am to go for ice cream?!” 
> 
> all mistakes are mine.

Kali is just on the verge of sleep when a loud crash comes from just outside her window.

Her first response is to simply stay put and growl into her pillow. The full moon is in three days and for the past week, it’s been nearly impossible for her to get any sleep. Her limbs are restless and twitchy; even her skin and nails feel like they want to peel away. Every time she thinks she might be able to drift off, she rolls into a moonlit patch of her bed and her fangs painfully explode through her gums.

Whatever made the noise better have a good reason for waking her up. She’s gotten better at control, but she thinks she’d be willing to let it slip if it meant she could actually _sleep._

By the time she summons the energy to roll onto her side, the noise has come again, louder this time. Kali takes a moment to get her bearings before she kicks away her thin blanket and drops to the floor in a crouch. She slinks across the floor until she’s pressed against her wall. It’s a cloudy night, but she can still feel the moon’s pull on her, trying to lure her outside with promises of blood and power. She shakes her head to clear her mind before she slides across the room to crouch just underneath her window. Now that the fog of sleep has (mostly) left her mind and been replaced by adrenaline, she can hear scuffling and a strong, steady heartbeat. 

It wouldn’t be the first time someone has tried to break into her house. And it wouldn’t be the first time that Kali has caught and silenced them. 

She reaches for her window but before she can touch it, it slides open from the outside, bringing with it a cool breeze and the smell of perfume and damp earth. It’s a familiar scent, one that she usually considers to be comforting, but that doesn’t mean she's willing to take any chances. 

As soon as one pale hand reaches into the room, she strikes. 

She wraps her fingers around the person’s wrist and pulls, hard enough to easily break a human’s bones. But that doesn’t happen; instead, the person twists and wraps their hands around Kali’s neck. When they hit the floor, the person’s bony knees slam painfully into Kali’s thighs.

“Someone a little on edge?” The teasing voice comes right beside Kali’s ear and it’s exactly what she needs for a positive identification.

Jennifer is the only person she knows capable of sounding so damn _smug._

“What the hell are you doing here?” she hisses, shoving Jennifer off of her. “Do you have any idea what time it is?” 

“Just after four.” As Kali gets to her feet and closes the window, Jennifer sidles across the room and perches herself on the edge of Kali’s bed. She bounces slightly, just enough to make the springs creak. The sound is all it takes for a series of inappropriate images to flood Kali’s brain. “I was hoping that you were still awake.” 

“Why?” Kali snaps, dropping down to sit beside Jennifer. “Do you know how long it’s been since I actually slept for more than two hours?” 

“Judging by how you almost ripped off Talia’s face in homeroom, probably a few days,” Jennifer replies. “What’s wrong? Is it the moon?” 

“What do you think?” Kali sighs deeply and scratches at her cheek, trying to press against her gums through her skin. It does nothing to quench the urge to let her fangs drop and tear through flesh.

“I think you need a break.” Jennifer slides closer and twists their fingers together. She drops her head onto Kali’s shoulder and Kali turns so that she can bury her face in Jennifer’s thick, dark hair. In addition to her light perfume, Jennifer smells like the woods and something darker, almost electrical in nature. It’s the most comforting scent Kali knows and she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as she tightly squeezes Jennifer’s hand. 

It doesn’t make the itch go away, but the physical contact does make it a little easier to ignore.

“You know you can’t stay here,” Kali mutters into her girlfriend’s hair. “They’re going to wake up soon.” 

“Fuck them,” Jennifer says and the amount of vitriol in her voice _almost_ takes Kali aback. Not that she feels any different; the fact that her parents won’t even allow Jennifer in the house makes her so angry that she can’t stop her claws from digging into her palms. 

(They say it’s because Kali’s too young to have a girlfriend, but she knows better. She can smell the fear coming off them whenever Kali says Jennifer’s name, fear that Kali’s loyalty will shift from their emissary to Jennifer.

Kali wonders what they’d smell like if they knew about her plans to rip out their throats after graduation.)

Jennifer presses a kiss against Kali’s head and pulls back. There’s a wide grin spreading across her face, reaching all the way up to her eyes. It’s in such contrast to her last words that it should be frightening, but Kali has long since gotten used to how quickly Jennifer bounces between moods.

“Would you like to know why I actually came over here?” she asks. 

“You mean you didn’t just want to get into my bed?” Kali asks, leaning over to press a hard kiss to the base of Jennifer’s pale throat. 

“Not with your parents down the hall,” Jennifer replies, although Kali doesn’t miss the way Jennifer’s heartbeat momentarily speeds up. “I was actually craving ice cream and wanted to see if you wanted to come with me.”

“And where did you plan on getting ice cream at this time of night?” Kali's not surprised that Jennifer’s been hit with a craving for sweets; she doesn’t really get how the whole emissary thing works, but there is a definite connection between Jennifer practicing her spellwork and craving sugar. But as far as Kali knows, there’s nothing in her freezer except for meat and frozen fruit and the nearest all-night grocery store is over the county line. 

“I have my ways,” Jennifer says with a grin before getting back to her feet and stepping over to the still open window. “C’mon. It’s not like you were going to really sleep anyways.” 

Kali has to grudgingly admit, Jennifer’s probably not wrong about that.

&.

This early in the morning, Beacon Hills is completely quiet.

The traffic lights tick from red to green and back again without a single vehicle passing through. The horizon is still dark and the only light comes from the street lamps placed at intermittent intervals. The moon is hidden behind the thick clouds and the air smells so strongly of rain that Kali can almost taste it on her tongue. 

If it weren’t for the itch still plaguing every inch of her body, it would be the perfect kind of night to sneak under the bleachers at the high school and have some fun.

It takes twenty minutes for them to reach their destination, which is an ice cream shop on the edge of downtown. Unsurprisingly, at this hour it’s almost completely dark behind the plate glass windows, aside from the faint light coming from the display freezers. As soon as the shop comes into sight, Jennifer starts moving even faster, quick enough that Kali has to take long steps in order to keep up with her. 

“Front door or back?” Kali asks, bare feet crunching over a few scattered pieces of gravel. She barely notices; she’s hated wearing shoes since she could first walk and since stepping on glass or nails means nothing to her, she forgoes them whenever possible. 

“The back door isn’t locked,” Jennifer says, leading them behind the building. “At least it wasn’t the last time I was here.” 

“How often do you come here?” Kali asks. There’s a keyhole on the door but when Jennifer twists the knob, it opens inwards with no resistance. 

“Often enough,” Jennifer replies, smiling at Kali over her shoulder before stepping inside. 

The shop is small; the door opens onto a short hallway, which ends in the serving counter and eating area. Jennifer hops over the swinging door leading behind the counter, landing nimbly on her feet. For a brief moment, the electric smell of magic fills the air and Kali can’t help but remember the Jennifer she first met in freshman year, the small, bookish girl who’d worn glasses and tripped over thin air. 

(But somewhere around junior year, Jennifer had been hit with a growth spurt and her glasses had disappeared. She’d started showing up to class smelling like the forest and one day, she’d kissed Kali at her locker and murmured _I know what you are._

There’d been no coming back from that.)

“What flavor do you want?” Jennifer asks, peering through the glass display case. Without looking, she reaches up and grabs bowls and spoons from the top of the counter. “They’re all pretty good.” 

“Surprise me,” Kali says with a shrug as she sinks to the floor. Jennifer flashes her another bright grin before sliding the case open, releasing a whoosh of cold air that makes Kali shiver. Jennifer bustles back and forth for a few moments, humming tunelessly as she piles scoop after scoop into the Styrofoam bowls. By the time she closes the case and joins Kali on the floor, the ice cream has already started to melt in trickles down the sides of the bowls. 

“I gave you a bit of everything,” Jennifer says, wasting no time in scooping a spoonful into her mouth. The sound that she makes is one Kali has only ever heard within the confines of Jennifer’s bedroom-

(and under the bleachers and in the locker room between classes. They have to make do with what they have.) 

“I wouldn’t say it’s _that_ good,” Kali says when Jennifer groans again and closes her eyes.

“You have no idea,” Jennifer mumbles. “I’ve never wanted anything this badly.”

“Not even me? That hurts, Jenn.” 

“That goes without saying.” Jennifer slides even closer and throws her legs over Kali’s. “But that spell took a lot out of me. And we didn’t have enough snacks in our house.” Kali doesn’t bother asking what kind of spell Jennifer was practicing; Jennifer wouldn’t tell her anyway. It was different before she was an actual emissary, when she was just practicing spells that she found in old books at the library. But now that she’s in actual training to one day to take over the emissary duties for one of the packs in the area, she’s stopped revealing details. 

Kali doesn’t mind. If everything goes according to plan, she’ll have a front row seat to Jennifer’s magic, sooner rather than later.

By the time they finish eating, Kali’s fingers are sticky with melted ice cream and her stomach is full to bursting. The sun is beginning to come up; the streetlights outside have flicked off and the room is slowly filling with a soft yellow glow. 

“Do you think your parents are going to know you were with me?” Jennifer asks, tossing her licked clean bowl and spoon into a nearby trash can. 

“Probably,” Kali says. Even if by some miracle she did manage to make it back home before her parents woke up, the smell of magic is nearly impossible to scrub away completely, no matter how long she stands underneath the scalding spray of her shower. “They’ll probably just try to ground me again.” She absently runs her fingers down Jennifer’s legs, bare underneath the hem of her skirt. Jennifer hums again and drops her head onto Kali’s shoulder, long hair tickling against Kali’s exposed collarbone. For a few moments, there’s no sound in the room except for the hum of the freezers and their intertwined heartbeats. Kali lets her eyes drop closed, fingers still brushing against Jennifer’s legs. Even though the tiled floor is uncomfortable, she can feel herself starting to drift off. 

Maybe if Jennifer was allowed to stay over, she’d actually be able to get some sleep. 

“I could help take care of them, you know.” 

At Jennifer’s words, Kali’s eyes fly open. She sits up straighter and twists so that she can see Jennifer’s face.

“What?”

“I could help you take care of your parents. Maybe not yet, but I’ll be able to soon. You could be alpha. I could be your emissary.” It’s definitely not a joke; Jennifer’s mouth is set in a straight line and her heartbeat is strong and steady. 

Kali can’t help but find the offer a tempting one. The desire to be alpha has thrummed in her veins since she knew what the title meant. If she did take Jennifer up on her offer, she’d be one of the youngest alphas in recent history, seventeen with a pack of her own. She’d have to do some trimming, of course; her parents have far too many betas, most of who would probably try and steal her position as soon as she claimed it.

But she’s not ready for that yet. She’s not ready for the attention it will bring her, not ready for the questions from the other packs in the area, not ready to fully immerse herself into the convoluted world of wolf pack politics. 

She doesn’t want to wait much longer, but a few months is all she will need. 

“Soon,” she says, leaning down and kissing Jennifer’s forehead. “Not yet. We should graduate first.” For just a moment, something in her girlfriend changes. Jennifer’s body temperature drops so abruptly that Kali actually yanks her fingers away from her now freezing legs. Her smell changes too, becoming something darker and earthier, and her heartbeat gets louder and faster, beating like a drum in Kali’s ears. 

But, just as quickly as these changes happen, they vanish. Heat rushes back into Jennifer’s skin and her heart rate slows back to the comforting pace Kali could pick out of any crowd. She shrugs and slides her arm around Kali’s waist, head dropping down again to rest just above the swell of Kali’s breasts. 

“Okay,” she murmurs. Her fingers brush back and forth over Kali’s lower back, nails sharp even through Kali’s shirt. “I can be patient.” 

Somehow, even though Jennifer’s heart rate doesn’t rise, Kali doesn’t believe her.

**Author's Note:**

> as always, I can be found on [tumblr.](http://banshee-cheekbones.tumblr.com/) :)


End file.
